Now that's how a cap dump trade should look (Anaheim trade). I see too many Pittsburgh ACGMs with Anaheim sending back a 2nd round pick...LOL. $5.5M is a lot to dump though so you should have to throw in a 3rd round pick or a prospect of interest as well (maybe Légaré).

It would be nice to dump Zucker's salary but Hextall highly values draft capital. It's hard seeing him send a 2nd round pick or more.

I think the move might be trading Joseph or Ruhwedel for a middle round pick after roster spots are won at training camp.

Anaheim is a team in a rebuild mode and stated they are a team willing to eat cap space and take on cap dumps. It would be too much to send even more their way than a 2nd to dump Zucker. Marc Staal was getting paid more than Zucker and all it costed was a 2nd for the Rangers to dump him. Besides there could be some upside for Anaheim and maybe a weight off of Zucker. No pressure or too many expectations on him. Could help him find some productivity again.

The Staal trade was in 2020, have to consider today's market.

They have now reached the cap floor with the Klingberg signing so even they still have a good amount of space, the NEED to acquire more cap is less. NYR dumped Patrik Nemeth ($2.5M) to Arizona and had to send a 2025 2nd round pick and a 2024 3rd round pick* (which could become a 2026 2nd round pick). Teams like Arizona and Anaheim are going to take advantage of teams that need to dump.

I think it costed that for the Rangers to dump Nemeth because he wasn’t really a good defencemen for the Rangers. He was a healthy scratch quite a bit and didn’t play a lot in the playoffs. And you can’t ignore the fact Arizona had traded to the Rangers a prospect drafted in the 3rd round of 2018. Because you don’t just dump a player paid $2.5M with a couple draft picks and not get a return. Especially with the calibre of a 2nd and 3rd or two seconds. And another thing you have to take in consideration is it’s $5.5M for one year. There’s not a whole lot of reason Anaheim should decline that. Especially being in a rebuild still. They have no long term plan for Klingberg and no long term plan for a few other players who have higher cap hits on the team.

Play party hard is right, cap space is at an ultra premium this season, as there are multiple teams who are millions over the cap and cant get compliant with a buyout or burying the guy in the AHL so trades have to happen. It doesn't matter if Zucker finds his groove in Anaheim or not, at the time of the trade, what matters is you are buying 5+ mil in cap space to try and let your very aged core get another run at the cup.

We're not selling cap space, we are selling hopes and dreams of a cup in 2023, isn't that worth a 2nd round pick?

Play party hard is right, cap space is at an ultra premium this season, as there are multiple teams who are millions over the cap and cant get compliant with a buyout or burying the guy in the AHL so trades have to happen. It doesn't matter if Zucker finds his groove in Anaheim or not, at the time of the trade, what matters is you are buying 5+ mil in cap space to try and let your very aged core get another run at the cup.

We're not selling cap space, we are selling hopes and dreams of a cup in 2023, isn't that worth a 2nd round pick?

Your statement is a little over exaggerated. The teams that actually really desperately need the cap space is Edmonton, Florida, Philadelphia, and Toronto as they cannot make the moves to make the team both cap compliant and roster compliant. Pittsburgh is a team that can make some adjustments without making trades. So technically Pittsburgh doesn’t need to make a trade to become cap compliant. That’s why I believe the Pens would only have to trade a 2nd to give up Zucker. We don’t desperately need thay cap space, it would just be nice to have the extra cap space. As much as you’d want to say multiple teams are over the cap, you also can’t ignore the amount of teams that are steady with where they are at and don’t need to make any moves.

I'e exagerated nothing, four teams is multiple teams, and many more want to move out an undrpoeforming contract or two to make a splashy free agent signing in the hopes of making it to the cup. Cap space is more valueable this year, so it costs more to move players. I personally think a 2nd would get it done, but it would habe to be a 2023 2nd or Verbeek tells Hextal to take his business elsewhere.

While the Pens may not "need" to cut Zucker loose, what would 5 million in cap buy that can help Crosby and the gang get over the hill? Your core isnt getting any younger, and father time will come for each of them soon, the options are pay to move out contracts or waste one of the few years they have left.

I think I misunderstood a piece and I apologize for it. I thought you were saying Pittsburgh would have to pay more than a second to get rid of Zucker’s cap hit. Banking on Zucker to be healthy may be a bit much to expect from him due to him being injury prone for the past few years. The thing that prevents him from finding consistency is being injured.

No worries mate, happens to all of us, I misread a post each week. I think second get it done, at least around this part of the summer. If we start knocking on the door of October the ask has likely gone up.